Archive for December, 2010

It’s been an amazing week and a half. I went to my inbox yesterday to learn that my story “Scratch Paper” has been accepted to Allegory e-zine. It will appear in their January issue under my real name. I’m still in shock.

I’d set some goals for the end of the year, one of them was to get three stories published. I’m not counting on reaching that goal, but getting close feels good.

Now back to work! (cracks whip on self = ingests large amounts of caffeine).

If you’d have asked me five years ago, whether I could be happy back in Japan, I would have laughed. When I returned to the U.S. after thirteen years here, I’d had it with the crowds, and a school system that liked to treat foreign teachers like talking dogs rather than professionals. Well, other than the talking dog part — I’m now at a university where I am treated as an adult — I’ve discovered there’s a lot less harm in a few grouchy, hung over salarymen than some hopped up douchebag in a BMW trying to cut me off on the 405.

There’s also something about living in a big, abrasive city that perks up the synapses. Having to jostle through crowds and hang up my own laundry rather than throwing it in a dryer, and separating garbage under a Byzantine recycling system, has had some positive side effects on my motivation to write.

I’ve even been alternating chores with writing. One becomes a reward for the other, but I don’t ever try to do either all at once. I’ll write for an hour, then fold the laundry, and so far both are getting done.

I was wondering how others might balance their household chores and other errands with their writing routines. Any tricks to psyche yourself out and remove the guilt for having left the dishes in the sink?

Below is a list I’ve kept on my wall to track submissions. I’ve started using Duotrope’s online tracker as well, but I like to have things on paper where I can see them, even if they’re mostly riddled with big red R’s.

As you can see, just barely before reaching the bottom of this round there is a big purple — not scarlet –“A” for acceptance followed by a psychotically scrawled “Whooooooooop!”

It’s been about six months since I’ve started submitting seriously and systematically, and I’d expected to go through at least five to ten pages of the same before adding any purple to the mix. But on Sunday, I got an email informing me that my story “Tfoo” has been accepted to the Rockets, Swords and Rainbows anthology,

brought to you by the wonderful people at the Library of the Living Dead. It will appear under my real name. (Er…Not doing so well at this pen name stuff.)

I’m am thrilled to be a part of this, and proud that a LGBT story will be my first sale in the realm of speculative fiction.